Textile manufacture



y 6, 1943. E. J. ABBOTT 2,323,300

TEXTILE MANUFACTURE Filed April 17, 193'? 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 1 E b y Y mardlfla y 1943- E. J. ABBOTT- 2,323,300

TEXTILE MANUFACTURE Filed April 17, 1937 4 SheetS -Shet 2' 3 4; 49 J3 if July 6, 1943- E. J. ABBOTT 2,323,300

TEXTILE MANUFACTURE- Filed April 17, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 fizdeiziar ward Jfld Patented July 6, 1943 TEXTILE MANUFACTURE Edward J. Abbott, Wilton, N. 11., asslgnor to Abbott Machine Company, Wilton, N. H., a corporation of New Hampshire Application April 17, 1937, Serial Na 137,492

4 Claims.

This invention pertains to textile manufacture and relates more especially to a method of and apparatus for reducing textile fibers or filaments of the so-called continuous or endless type, such as natural silk, artificial silks of various kinds, artificial wool, etc., to staple lengths in readiness for spinning according to the usual cotton, woolen or worsted systems.

While fibers or filaments of the continuous or eJless type, such as above referred to, are still worked into yarn in large quantities by the socalled "reeled silk, denier-rayon or similar processes, the high cost of such methods of manufacture has given rise in recent years to an increasing use of the spun silk or spun rayon processes. Staple rayon, though an ofi-shoot of filament rayon, is really a distinctive, new textile fiber, although as yet it has not acquired a distinctive name. Such staple fiber may be produced at a cost, at the present time, of a little over twice that of raw cotton. The filaments are extruded from a spinneret having 1200 or more holes, thus producing a tow of great size com prising a large number of individual filaments which are formed continuously and at great speed. As a preliminary to the making of staplefiber yarn, the initially endless or continuous filaments are first chopped up into relatively short or staple lengths (that is to say, lengths of the order of the natural textile fiber, such as cotton or wool). Staple yarn or spun rayon is usually spun in mixtures with cotton, silk or rayon, or with wool, mohair, rabbit hair or worsted, for use in underwear, dress goods, suitings and, more recently, in coatings and pile upholstery fabrics. It is delicate, but soft and flexible so that it has good draping qualities. Combinations of staple rayon with worsted or mohair are used for dress goods, and for suitings of excellent appearance, notably for men's summer suitings.

In accordance with the more usual prior practice, the chopped fiber is first blown so as thoroughly to open it and is then baled for shipment to the mill. Here the baled fiber, either straight or after blending with cotton, wool or other textile material, is run through cards in preparation for spinning by any of the usual methods. If it is to be spun in accordance with the worsted system, the carded fiber is first combed to form tops, which are then spun either with or without blending, as by gilling, with wool tops or the likethe combing and gilling operations in particular resulting in bringing the fibers into substantially parallel relation.

Since the continuous fibers, preparatory to chopping, are usually in substantially parallel relation, it is obvious that many of the usual prior steps subsequent to chopping represent an attempt to restore the fiber to the state in which it was originally, that is to say, to that state in which the several fibers are substantially parallel to each other, and thus this prior practice represents a great waste of time and attendant increase in expense. Furthermore, if gilling or combing be employed, there is a substantial waste from the noils combed out in preparing the tops.

To avoid the waste of time and material and .excessive cost resulting from this usual prior practice, it has recently been proposed to keep the fibers in substantially parallel relation when and subsequent to delivering them to the strandsevering means by passing a sliver or roving, comprising the continuous or endless fibers, through a drafting apparatus comprising spaced pairs of rolls having such a ratch and draft as to break the individual fibers by tension in a haphazard manner at their points of natural weakness by tensioning them beyond their elastic limit, and thereafter providing for drafting the substantially parallel but short lengths of fiber so as directly to convert them into roving suitable for spinning by the cotton or woolen process or by treating them as tops in accordance with the worsted process.

While this last method is highly advantageous as compared with the former and more usual method, it has certain manifest disadvantages, in particular its dependence upon stretching each individual fiber beyond its elastic limit for breaking it, with resultant loss of elasticity in the fiber and tendency to shrink excessively when wet. Since one of the least desirable characteristics of rayon as a textile fiber is its normally low elasticity, the process of breaking continuous fiber into staple lengths by stretching it beyond the elastic limit is particularly detrimental when applied to rayon or similar synthetic materials. Secondly, the short length fibers resulting from this method are of very irregular staple-a condition which has usually been regarded as productive of uneven yarn.

The present invention has for its ultimate ob ject the production of spun yarn from fibers of the continuous or endless type without those losses in material and time, and without the excessive production cost, inherent in the usual prior methods, and at the same time to provide a yarn possessing the normal elasticity and shrinkage coefficient of yarn spun from such materlal by the earlier and more usual methods and which, when spun, will be even and true to size.

The immediate object of the invention is to provide an improved method of and means for dividing fibers of the continuous type into short staple of substantially uniform length, but with the ends of adjacent lengths staggered and overlapped, that is to say, so relatively arranged as to permit the usual drawing and spinning operations to be performed, but without substantially disturbing the original parallel arrangement of the fibers in performing the operations subsequent to division and prior to spinning, and without necessary resort to combing or other operation for rearranging the fibers in parallel relation. 7 V

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method of and means for dividing fibers of the continuous type into short lengths whereby the process may be carried out continuously, cheaply and expeditiously and without necessitating the employment of highly skilled labor or requiring expert supervision for its proper accomplishment.

A further object is to provide an improved method whereby the filaments or continuous fibers may be converted into staple lengths and combined or blended with other textile fiber or fiber of diiferent color in a continuous operation and without substantially disturbing the original parallel relation of the fibers.

In the accompanying drawings wherein certain desirable embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example,

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of mechanism useful in the practice of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic plan view, to very large scale, illustrating the principle of operation of the apparatus of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 4 is an end elevation of a fiber-dividing device of a modified construction, useful, for example, in apparatus such as that of Figs. 1 and 2;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but illustrating another embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of apparatus useful in the practice of the invention in accordance with a modified procedure;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view of apparatus useful in the practice of the invention in accordance with a further modification;

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a plan view diagrammatically illustrating a method of procedure constituting a slight modification of that illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9;

Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic plan view illustrating a slight modification of that mode of procedure illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7;

Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic vertical section illustrating a process in which synthetic filaments of continuous type are spun and converted into staple-length sliver in a continuous operation;

Fig. 13 is a fragmentary diagrammatic section illustrating the reduction of the continuous filaments to staple lengths by the use of a blunt blade; and

Fig. 14 is a fragmentary diagrammatic elevation illustrating the continuous process as applied to the production of staple-length fibers in which fibers of two distinct kinds are blended.

Referring to the drawings, and in particular to Figs. 1 and 2, the numeral I designates a creel or other suitable support or arrangement for holding a plurality of masses 2 of fibrous material of the continuous or endless type. For example, these masses 2 may be balls, skeins, spools, cheeses, reels or, in fact, any other known type of package, eachiconsisting of a continuous or endless length offiber S, such for example, as natural silk, artificial silk, artificial wool, or .the like.

The fibers S from the several packages are led individually to a suitable guide device 3, for example, a reed or comb, adapted to deliver them in substantially parallel, closely adjacent relation to form a ribbon-like sliver or sheet 4 whose constituent fibers are parallel, in substantial contact with each other, and disposed in substantially the same horizontal plane. This sheet or ribbon-like sliver of parallel fibers is then advanced to the right, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, into the field of operation of a drafting device comprising the rear rolls 5 and 6 and the front rolls 9 and III. The front and rear rolls may be spaced apart to provide any suitable ratch, for example, ten inches, and the front rolls 9 and HI may be driven with a peripheral speed slightly greater than that of the rear rolls so as to draft the fibers extending between them. For the present purpose, a draft of 1 :2 is found suitable.

At a suitable point intermediate the nips of the front and rear pairs of rolls there is arranged a strand-severing device, here shown as an elongate cutter blade I. extending transversely across and beneath the sheet of parallel fibers with its edge in a plane slightly above that defined by the ips of the front and rear rolls and so disposed that the sheet of fibers normally rests upon the cutting edge with a light pressure, not sufllcient to cut the fibers. However, when any individual fiber is tensioned to a predetermined degree, it is drawn down against the cutting edge with sufficient force to sever it. The operation is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 3.

In this view, the portion of the sheet of fibers which extends from the nip of the rear rolls to the cutting blade is indicated at 4", while the portion of the ribbon-like sliver extending from the cutting blade' to the nip of the front rolls is indicated at 4'. As shown, all of the constituent fibers f, f f etc. extend from the nip of the rear rolls to and across the edge of the cutting blade. On the other hand, many of the fibers to the right of the cutting blade do not reach to the nip of the front rolls. This arrangement may be regarded as that subsisting at the beginning of the operation, although at any subsequent time a similar condition may prevail except that the trailing ends of several fibers would extend rearwardly from the nip of the front rolls substantially to contact with the advancing ends of the fibers leading from the blade.

It will be noted that certain fibers, for example, the fibers f, f and I" extend from the nip of the rear rolls across the knife blade to the nip of the forward rolls. Since the forward rolls are moving faster than the rear rolls, these particular fibers will be strongly tensioned and will thus be drawn down into forcible contact with the cutting edge. These excessively tensioned fibers will thus be severed by contact with the blade, although at no time are the fibers tensioned beyond their elastic limit so that they would break if the blade were not present.

. When a fiber has thus been severed, that portion which forms an element of the sheet 4 will be drawn forward by the front rolls while the forward end of the same fiber to the left of the line of severance will be dragged along by frictional engagement with the adjacent fibers so that it will be carried across the cutting edge and intosome such position as indicated in Fig. 3 as respects the fibers f f 1 etc. These ends will be advanced until they in turn are nipped by the front rolls, whereupon these fibers will be highly tensioned and cut by the blade. Thus the constituent fibers of the sheet are successively cut in a haphazard manner dependent wholly upon which ones at any particular instant are tensioned sufiiciently to draw them down into severing contact with the blade. In

,view of this haphazard method of severing the fibers, it is clear that the ends of some fibers will always overlap others so that at no time is there any break in the continuity of the sheet as a whole.

It may further be noted that since the cutting takes place always at a fixed distance from the nip of the front rolls, the cut lengths of the fibers resulting from this procedure will be substantially equal and thus the procedure results in the production of the uniform staple best suited for producing an even yarn.

After leaving the front rolls 9 and [0, these overlapping parallel short lengths of fiber may be condensed by passing them through a trumpet guide H Or other suitable appliance so as to form a sliver l2, and this sliver may then be wound upon a core I3 to form a roll M or may be coiled in a can, or delivered directly to some subsequent machine or apparatus useful in the further treatment of the fiber.

During this entire process of dividing the fiber into staple lengths so arranged that they overlap, although of substantially equal length, the fiber is maintained in its original state of parallelism and thus substantially no loss of fiber results either during this cutting operation or in the subsequent operations preliminary to spinning.

In order that the cutting operation of the knife blade I may be facilitated, it may be demeans for vibrating the blade may be employed.

Instead of cutting the fiber by means of a. sharp blade, it may be divided as illlustrated in Fig. 13 by first wetting it as, for example, by causing it to pass through a tank SI of water and then passing it between spaced pairs 62 and 63 of rolls and across a block 64 on.its way from one pair of rolls to the other. While passing over the block, the fibers are indented by means of a dull blade 65 which, in the weakened wet condition of the fiber, so notches them that they break at this artificially produced point of weakness in response'to the drafting stress of the rolls 63 without substantially stretching the fibers intermediate the points of weakness.

Instead of the single blade 1 above referred to, it is contemplated that a blade carrying roller l'9, such as shown in Fig. 4, may be provided.

This roller may be of any suitable material but is of sufflcient length to extend across the entire width of the sheet of fibers and may be mounted to turn freely on a shaft 20 or, if preferred, may beidriven slowly so as tobring one blade after another into the operative position and at the same time to assist in carrying forward the advancing ends of the severed fibers. Preferably the outer surface of this roller 19 is of a soft, resilient and yielding material such,-

for example, as a pile fabric like plush or velvet, or soft resilient brush bristles, and the several blades 2|, which are spaced peripherally of the roller, are so disposedathat their cutting edges lie substantially flush with or slightly below the peripheral surface of the normally upstanding pile-like fabric. With this arrangement, the sheet of strands extending between the nips of the two pairs of rolls normally contacts with the pile surface of the roller, which preferably elevates the sheet slightly above the plane of the nips of the holls. However, when any individual strand is tensioned to a predetermined degree, the strand is drawn down into the fabric and across one of the blades so that the strand is severed. The right-hand or advancing end of the severed strand now rests upon the pile surface and is lifted by the resiliency of the latter back to its original position in the plane of the other fibers of the sheet and the continued forward advance of this severed fiber is assured, particularly if the roll be turned in the proper direction.

In Fig. 5 a slight further modification is illustrated wherein a suitable support 23 is provided upon which the advancing sheet of fibers may rest, such support terminating to the left of the blade 1 as viewed in Fig. 5 to make room for a rotary brush 24 mounted to turn about a horizontal axis and extending transversely across and beneath the sheet of fibers. The sheet of fibers rests upon the periphery of this brush, which may be slightly higher than the edge of the blade I, and this brush may be rotated at a rate substantially equaling the normal rate of movement of the sheet of fibers so as to support the fibers as they approach the knife, but without interfering with their severance by the knife when individuallytensioned. The resiliency of the brush bristles permits such tensioning and at the same time restores the severed fiber end to its normal path and helps it to pass over the edge of the cutter. A second brush 25 may, if desired, be arranged between the blade and the rolls 9 and It so as further to assist the advancing ends of the severed fibers on their way to the nip of the front rolls.

In the arrangements above described, provision is made for cutting individual fibers in a haphazard manner but so as to produce uniform overlapping lengths. In accordance with the ar rangement illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the lengths of fiber are cut off in a somewhat different manner, although the ultimate result is to provide overlapping uniform lengths suitable to form a continuous sliver. Thus in Figs. 6 and '7 the creel I or equivalent device supports a large number of masses of fibers S which are drawn off and pass through a reed or other device 3 so as to dispose them in parallel relation and in the same plane to form a sheet of ribbon-like sliver R. This sheet of parallel, closely adjacent fibers is passed between a pair of rolls 26 and 21, the latter roll constituting supporting and driving means for an endless conveyor belt 23 which also passes about a roll 23 spaced from the roll 21.

which conveys this sheet of fibers to a fixed blade 30 (or a chopping block) with which cooperates a vertically reciprocating cutter blade 3|. This blade is reciprocated in any suitable manner and at such intervals of time with referenceto the speed of movement of the rolls 26 and 21 as to chop 01f uniform lengths 32 from the advancing end of the sheet, each such length being that of the desired staple.

Beneath the chopping part 30 is arranged a roller about which passes an endless conveyor belt 33 having an inclined upper run which is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 7. This belt 33 is driven at a speed slightly less than that of the belt 20, so that as suc-' cessive cut-off portions of the sheet or ribbon R drop upon its inclined upper run, they will be advanced with such speedas tooverlap each other as shown, for example, at 32 and 32". These overlapping cut-oi! portions of the'ribbon, each consisting of a great number of parallel, closely adjacent and equal lengths of fiber, are advanced by the belt 33 to any suitable device, for example, to drafting means capable of drafting the fiber and delivering it in the form of rope-like sliver, but as here shown the device 34 to which the overlapped cut-off portions of ribbon are delivered is a gill comprising the rear rolls 35 and 36, the forward rolls 3'! and 38, and

the intervening fallers 33. Any suitable draft between the front and rear sets of rolls may be provided, the action of the gill assuringa thorough blending of the successive overlapping porpair of rolls 49 and 50 which may, for example,

form the back rolls of a gllling device 53 also' having the front rolls BI and 52 and the fallers 54. blending the lengths of fiber resulting from successive operations of the blade and delivers the still parallel, short and equal lengths of fiber to a device 55 at which they are condensed and formed into a silver which may be coiled in the can 58.

In Fig. 10 a slight modification of the arrangement of Fig. 8 is illustrated wherein the sheetor ribbon-like sliver R of parallel fibers is cut by a series of staggered cuts 61 produced by a plurality of independent knives, for examplesuch cuts individually extending only part way across the entire sheet. Such an arrangement ensures an even better overlapping of the fibers than that produced by the arrangement of Fig. 8, and with such an arrangement it may be permissible to dispense with the gill device 53 and deliver directly to a condenser, although even when employing the arrangement of Fig. 10 a gill may be desirable.

In Fig. 11 a still further modification of the arrangement of Fig. 8 is disclosed, wherein a plurality ofsheets or ribbons R R R either disposed side by side or one above the other, are cut transversely across by successive diagonal cuts 46, 46 and 46, respectively, and the resultant short lengths of @aralleloverlapping fibers are then individually condensed by passing them through trumpet guides 58 to form ropes 59 which in turn are delivered to a gill 60 where of fibers necessary to the formation of a continuff" ous sliver.

In Figs. 8 and 9 another arrangement is illustratedwhereby this belt or its equivalent becomes unnecessary. In these figures the creel l furnishes the fibers S which, after passing through the comb 3 and being formed into a sheet or ribbon-like sliver R, pass between the rolls 42 and 43 and then onto the horizontal surface of a chopping block 44. With this block cooperates a vertically reciprocating knife 45 which extends diagonally across the sheet R and which, at each successive reciprocation, forms a diagonal cut 46, 41, etc. extending entirely across the sheet of fibers. It will be noted that such a diagonal cut severs successive fibers z, y, 2, etc. of the sheet at points which are at different distances, respectively, from the nip 0f the rolls 42 and 43 so that the ends of adjacent fibers so cut overlap one another. If desired, and in order to assist the advance of the fibers toward and from the cutting blade 45, an endless belt 43 may be provided.

After being severed, the lengths of fiber, which are still parallel, are advanced to the nip of a 15 they are combined and drawn and then condensed to form a single sliver.

As illustrated in Fig. 12, the present invention contemplates a single continuous process in which the filaments remain in their original parallel relation in which they leave the spinneretuntil, as a sliver of staple-length fibers, the material is delivered to a roving or spinning frame, or is wound into a. ball or upon a spool in readiness for delivery to the roving or spinning frame.

It is further contemplated that when so reducing the constituent filaments to staple lengths, and while still maintaining the original parallel relation of the fibers, other textile fibers may be blended therewith, the resultant product, in silver form, being then ready for conversion into spun yarn. Thus in Fig. 12 the numeral 66 designates a tank in which is located the spinneret 61 having a multitude of minute orifices from which the individual filaments F are extruded and pass upwardly through a hardening fiuid within the tank and thence over supporting rods 61. The combined filaments, of which there may be, for example, from 1200 to 3000, in accordance with the number of orifices in the spinneret, form a tow which is allowed to depend in the form of a loop 69 into a neutralizing bath 10 from which it passes into a drying apparatus II. From this drying apparatus the tow, with its multitude of constituent filaments still in parallel relation, passes to the comb S by means of which the filaments are disposed in sheet form, and this sheet of filaments then advances to cutting or dividing apparatus such, for example, as shown in Fig. 1.

While in the above description reference has been made to certain specific steps in the formation of the continuous filaments, it is to be understood that the present invention is intended to be inclusive of any process whereby continuous This gilling device assists in thoroughly filaments of textile type are synthetically produced.

If it be desired to blend fiber of other kind or color, for example, wool, cotton, silk, rabbits fur or the like, with the cut fiber, such other material may be delivered as a lap or rope 12 from a spool or other supply together with the sheet of cut staple to a blending apparatus, for example, a gill, wherein the several kinds of material are thoroughly commingled but without disturbing the original parallel relation of the cut staple. From this blending apparatus the mingled fibers are caused to converge to form a rope or sliver which may, for example, be wound upon a spool or to form a ball 14.

In accordance with the present invention, it is equally possible to blend cut staple fiber of different colors, for example, while maintaining their original parallel relation. Thus, as illustratedin Fig. 14, the numerals I and I6 represent respectively apparatus for forming synthetic filaments of continuous type and, for example, of red and blue color, respectively, the tows l1 and 18 respectively from these two sets of apparatus being delivered to corresponding cutting devices 19 and 80 from which the cut fiber, still in parallel relation, is delivered to a blending apparatus 8|, such as a gill, wherein the colors are blended while continuing to maintain the parallel relation of the fibers, and the commingled fibers are then delivered in the form of a sliver to be wound upon a spool or to form a ball 82.

While certain desirable embodiments of the invention have been here illustrated and described by way of example, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to these precise embodiments or to the specific means here indicated by way of example as useful in the performance of the improved method, but is to be regarded as broadly inclusive of all equivalent constructions and all equivalent series of method steps, irrespective of the order in which they may be practiced, so far as they fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for use in producing spun yarn from fiber of the continuous type comprising means for disposing a plurality of such fibers side by side in parallel relation and in substantially the same plane to form a ribbon-like sliver, spaced pairs of drafting rolls operative to advance and progressively to tension the constituent fibers, cutting means disposed at a predetermined distance from one of said pairs of rolls, said cutting means comprising a blade movable transversely of the sliver and over which the sliver moves, and .means for reciprocating said cutter longitudinally of its edge, said outter being so constructed and arranged as to sever any individual fiber when the tension thereon exceeds a predetermined amount. and

means operative to condense the resultant short lengths of fiber to form a continuous sliver.

2. Apparatus for use in producing spun yarn from fiber of the continuous type comprising means for disposing a plurality of such fibers side by side in parallel relation and in substantially the same plane to form a ribbon-like sliver, spaced pairs of drafting rolls operative to advance and progressively to tension the constituent fibers, cutting means disposed at a predetermined distance from one of said sets of rolls, said cutting means comprising a blade extending transversely across the path of the sliver and over which the edge of the sliver travels,

yieldable means normally supporting the constituent strands of the sliver, as they approach the cutter, in a plane .slightly above the cutting edge, said yieldable support being arranged to permit any strand which has been tensioned to a predetermined degree to sink into its surface and into severing contact with the cutter.

3. Apparatus for use in producing spun yarn from fiber of the continuous type comprising means for disposing a plurality of such fibers side by side in parallel relation and in substantially the same plane to form a ribbon-like sliver, means operative to advance and progressively to tension the constituent fibers, and cutting means disposed to contact the tensioned fiber, said cutting means comprising a support having a soft resilient surface and a blade having its cutting edge beneath the normal level of said resilient surface, the support and blade extending transversely across the path of the ribbon and beneath the same, the soft surface holding the moving fibers out of contact with the cutting edge but permitting any fiber, when sufiiciently tensioned, to come into severing contact with said edge.

4. Apparatus for use in producing spun yarn from fiber of the continuous type comprising means for disposing a plurality of such fibers side by side in parallel relation and in substantially the same plane to form a ribbon-like sliver, means operative to advance and progressively to tension the constituent fibers, and cutting means engageable with the tensioned fibers, said cutting means comprising a rotary roll having a soft resiliently yieldable outer covering, and a plurality of peripherally spaced cutters each having its edge beneath the normal peripheral surface of said covering, said r011 being disposed beneath the path of the sliver and so that its yieldable surface normally supports the fibers out of contact with the cutter edges, the soft surface of the roll being so constructed and arranged as to yield when a fiber has been tensioned to a predetermined degree thereupon to allow said tensioned fiber to come into severing contact with one or another of said cutters.

EDWARD J. ABBO'I'I'. 

